


Question the Answer Before Answering the Question

by viklikesfic (v_angelique)



Category: Criminal Minds RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-24
Updated: 2009-11-24
Packaged: 2017-10-06 00:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_angelique/pseuds/viklikesfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><a href="http://talk-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://talk-bingo.dreamwidth.org/"><b>talk_bingo</b></a> Prompt: Heaven/Paradise</p>
            </blockquote>





	Question the Answer Before Answering the Question

_JESUS is the answer,_ proclaims a giant billboard on the side of the highway that Google Maps has instructed Matthew to take to a location out in semi-rural country way past Los Angeles.

"Then what," he says to himself, flipping the sun visor down to block the harsh morning light, "is the question?"

The radio's set to an oldies station, and the tail end of a car commercial segueys into a familiar tune as Matthew double checks for the turn-off.

"To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn, and a time to every purpose under heaven…"

"I wonder," Matthew says to himself, as if talking out loud to himself on a road trip is perfectly normal—and in his world, it is—"if it's possible for _everyone_ to be right about where we go when we die."

"I mean hypothetically, right? If you think that Jesus is the answer, and I'm going to heaven, maybe my heaven is a Buddhist nirvana. Or maybe it's reincarnation. But maybe you can also be _reincarnated_ into heaven," he adds, his excited tone letting the empty car know that he's really onto something. "And maybe if you're an atheist, nothing happens to you… but then if my heaven is to hang out with a bunch of atheists, then we're all so fucking screwed." He ponders that for a moment, scratching his head, and turns the radio down, listening to the rush of air through his partially opened window and the firm ba-bump of tires rolling over extension joints instead.

"Or maybe… maybe God is so bad-ass that it's actually _all_ true, all at once. If God is too big for us to understand, then maybe he can both exist and not exist simultaneously. That would be pretty sweet."

Far in the distance, at the edge of a field, two brown horses gallop who-knows-where, their powerful muscles beating time on the hard earth. Matthew watches them, keeping the car in cruise control, and thinks that maybe his heaven would be reincarnation into a horse. It can't be half bad, if you end up with a good owner, or maybe even as a wild horse. Do wild horses still exist? He thinks about that for a moment, and makes a mental note to look it up in Wikipedia tonight, back in Los Angeles.

"Though," he concedes as if he'd never lost the thread of his original thought, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and turning right after a gas station and a souvenir shop on the side of the road, "it's kind of hard to factor in the Wiccans." He thinks about that a little longer, then consults the directions again and realises he's missed a turn.

When he arrives on the set, the AD is staring at him, tapping her watch. "What?" he exclaims, throwing his hands up. "I'm still ten minutes ahead of…"

Shemar steps out from behind a trailer, and Matthew winces. "Damn."

The AD rolls her eyes, points him in the direction of the makeup trailer, and walks away.

"Hey, man," Shemar says with a grin. "You're late."

"I got caught up in an existential dilemma."

"Yeah? What did you conclude?"

"Jesus? Probably not the answer."

Shemar laughs and claps him on the back. "Whatever, man. Let's get changed."


End file.
